It is true that the Authorized Version of Gen. x, 11 is countenanced by most of the ancient translators and by Josephus ; but, on the other hand, the one we have preferred is that of the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and of Jerome; and (among the moderns) of Bochart, Hyde, Marsham, Wells, Faber, Hales, and many others. Yet, though Nimrod's " kingdom" em- braced the lands both of Shinar and Asshur, we are left in the dark as to whether Babylon or Nineveh be- came the permanent seat of government, and conse- quently whether his empire should be designated that of Babylonia or that of Assyria. No certain traces of it, indeed, are to be found in Scripture for ages after its erection. In the days of Abraham, we hear of a king of Elam ( i. e. Elymais, in the south of Persia) named Chedorlaomer, who had held in subjection for twelve years five petty princes of Palestine (Gen. xiv, 4), and who, in consequence of their rebellion, invaded that country along with three other kings, one of whom was "Amraphel, king of Shinar.'" Josephus says " the Assyrians had then dominion over Asia ;" and he styles these four kings merely commanders in the Assyrian army. It is possible that Chedorlaomer was an As- syrian viceroy, and the others his deputies; for at a later period the Assyrian boasted, "Are not my princes altogether kings ?•" (ha. x. 8.) Yet some have rather concluded from the narrative that by this time the monarchy of Nimrod bad been broken up, or that at least tin- s>';;t. of government had been transferred to Elam. Be this as it may, the name of Assyria as an independent state does not again appear in Scripture till the closing period of the age of Moses. Balaam, a seer from the northern part of Mesopotamia, in the neighborhood of Assyria, addressing the Kenites, a mountain tribe on the east side of the Jordan, "took »ip his parable," i. e. raised his oracular, prophetic chant, and said, " Durable is thy dwelling-place! yea, in a rock puttest thou thy nest: nevertheless, wasted shall be the Kenite, until Asshur shall lead them cap- tive." In this verse, besides the play upon the word ken (the Hebrew for a nest), the reader may remark the striking contrast drawn between the permanent
nature of the abode, and the transient possession of it by the occupants. The prediction found its fulfilment in the Kenites being gradually reduced in strength (comp. 1 Sam. xv, 6), till they finally shared the fate of the Transjordanite tribes, and were swept away into captivity by the Assyrians (1 Chr. v, 2G ; 2 Kings xvi, 9 ; xix, 12, 13 ; 1 Chr. ii, 55.) But, as a counter- part to this, Balaam next sees a vision of retaliatory vengeance on their oppressors, and the awful prospect of the threatened devastations, though beheld in far distant times, extorts from him the exclamation, "Ah! who shall live when God doeth this ? For ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict As- shur, and shall afflict Eber, but he also [the invader] shall perish forever." This is not without obscurity ; but it has commonly been supposed to point to the conquest of the regions that once formed the Assyrian empire, first by the Macedonians from Greece, and then by the Romans, both of whose empires were in their turn overthrown.
In the time of the Judges, the people of Israel be- came subject to a king of Mesopotamia, Ckushan-risha- thaim (Judg. iii, 8), who is by Josephus styled King of the Assyrians ; but we are left in the same igno- rance as in the case of Chedorlaomer as to whether 1 e was an independent sovereign or only a vicegerent for another. The eighty-third Psalm (ver. 9) mentions Ashur as one of the nations leagued against Israel ; but as the date of that composition is unknown, noth- ing certain can be founded on it. The first king of Assyria alluded to in the Bible is he who reigned at Nineveh when the prophet Jonah was sent thither (Jon. iii. G). Hales supposes him to have been the fa- ther of Pul, the first Assyrian monarch named in Scrip- ture, and dates the commencement of his reign B.C. 821. By that time the metropolis of the empire had become "an exceeding great" and populous city, but one pre-eminent in wickedness (Jon. i, 2 ; iii, 3 ; iv, 11). See Jonah.
The first expressly recorded appearance of the As- syrian power in the countries west of the Euphrates is in the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, against whom "the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul or (Pktil), king of Assyria" (1 Chron. v., 20), who invaded the country, and exacted a tribute of a thousand talents of silver "that his hand," i. e. his favor, "might be with him to confirm the kingdom in'his hand" (2 Kings xv, 19, 20). Newton places this event in the year B.C. 770, in the twentieth year of I ul*s reign, the commencement of which he fixes in the year B.C. 790. As to his name, we find the syllable Pal, Pel, or Pul entering into the names of several Assyrian kings (e. (j. Piloses, Sardana/w/-us) ; and hence some connect it with the Persian "bales" i. e. high, exalted, and think it may have been part of the title which the Assyrian monarchs bore. Hales conjectures that Pul may have been the second Belus of the Greeks, his fame having reached them by his excursions into Western Asia. About this period we find the prophet Ilosea making frequent allusions to the practice both of Israel and Jud.ca, of throwing themselves for support on the kings of Assyria. In ch. v, 13; x, G, our version speaks of their specially seeking the protection of a "King Jareb," but the original there is very obscure; and the next Assyrian monarch mentioned by name is Tiglath-pileser. The supposition of Newton is adopted by Hales, that at Pul's death his dominions were di- vided between his two sons, Tiglath-pileser and Nab- onassar, the latter being made ruler at Babylon, from the date of whose government or reign the celebrated era of Nubonassar took its rise, corresponding to B.C. 747. The name of the other is variously written Tig- lath and Tilgath, Pileser and Pilreser : the etymology of the first is unknown (some think it has a reference to the river Dijlath, i. e. the Tigris). Pileser signifies in Persian "exalted prince." When Ahaz, king of Judah, was hard pressed bj- the combined forces of